NEW YORK (JTA) — The following is a list of the 39 Jewish members — 12 senators and 27 representatives — who are expected to serve in the 112th U.S. Congress, which is set to convene in January: U.S. SENATE Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)* Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)** Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Al Franken (D-Minn.) [...]
Read More »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The speech that Russ Feingold gave to end his career in the U.S. Senate was much like his career itself: by turns crystal clear, obscure, ornery, defiant and gracious — and quoting a fellow Great Plains Jew to boot. “But my heart is not weary, it’s light and it’s free, I’ve got [...]
Read More »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A historic Republican sweep of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday has propelled Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the minority whip, to the verge of becoming the highest-ranking Jewish lawmaker in U.S. political history. “We are excited for Eric Cantor to become the next House Majority leader,” said Matt Brooks, director of [...]
Read More »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — When “Saturday Night Live” alum “Father Guido Sarducci,” delivering the benediction at Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity, ran through a list of religions seeking the true faith, Judaism received the biggest applause. That didn’t surprise Rivka Burstein-Stern. “There were a lot of Jews there,” she said of Saturday’s rally. “But when [...]
Read More »
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Eric Cantor has spent a lifetime relishing wearing the other hat. Among Jews, the Republican congressional whip from Richmond, Va., likes to play the genteel Southern conservative, the posture that won over his wife, a socially liberal banker from New York. Among southerners, he’s the nice Jewish boy who belongs to an [...]
Read More »
OAKLAND, Calif. (JTA) — Ed Rosenthal has been working to legalize marijuana in California since he moved to the state in 1972. Vindication may finally be at hand for the Bronx-born former yippie. On Nov. 2, California voters will consider Proposition 19, a ballot initiative to legalize the cultivation and possession of small amounts of [...]
Read More »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Talk to veteran campaign watchers about this year’s congressional races, and within seconds they will tell you that they’ve never before seen elections quite like these. “We’ve never seen a cycle where there’s been this many races this close to an election and you don’t know how it’s going to come out,” [...]
Read More »
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joel Pollak has traveled from liberal to conservative in his young lifetime, and now he hopes to take Chicago’s storied Lakefront with him. The Harvard Law School graduate, 32, is running a quixotic campaign against U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who has held the seat since 1999, winning 75 percent majorities in [...]
Read More »
